You have to either be an improviser or a forensic investigator to find this clip on YouTube. It’s got less than 200 views, it has a blank description. The title is brief and without context. It’s almost uploaded in as an afterthought to a personal catalogue of shows. If you know what you’re looking for, however, finding this video is like finding a 1909 American Tobacco Company Honus Wagner card in your grandfather’s sock drawer.
Jay Sukow, the video uploader, is a grizzled veteran of Chicago and LA improv. His show, Improv Famous, features a rotating all-star cast of improv mercenaries. The show’s name implies that each invited performer is a legend to improv insiders, but perhaps not to the general public. The below cast was the first one ever assembled on March 3, 2017 at Santa Monica’s Westside Comedy.
What follows is a 45 minute Armando – a set of scenes inspired by the story of a monologist (in this case, Second City Patriarch, Jeff Michalski). The scenes and the monologist interact and spiral around each other as the piece unfolds.
